A Passionate Magic
Page 30
“There you are at last.” A handsome, dark-haired man sitting at a table with an ancient book open before him looked up at the familiar footstep. “Is it all settled?”
“Very nicely settled. It is finally safe for Agatha to die of old age. Soon a new and younger healer will arrive at Trevanan. I haven’t decided what to call myself the next time. I’ll think of something. At least wickedness is banished for a while, a feud is resolved, and two couples are set upon happy paths. For the moment I am content.”
Agatha stretched, shedding her elderly guise. Her stooped figure grew tall and slender, and her unkempt gray hair changed to lustrous pale gold that fell in a straight sheaf to below her knees. Agatha’s dark wool gown began to shimmer with pearly luminescence while her once heavy shawl floated sheer and ivory pale about her delicate shoulders.
“Wickedness is always banished only for a while,” the man said, rising to face her. “If you were to release me, Nimue, I could go with you to the outer world. You and I, together, would exert a greater effect upon evil.”
“I could release you,” she said, and ran a finger lightly along his lips, “but I won’t. You are too clever for me, Merlin. After all these centuries, I know you well. The instant I freed you, you’d bind me to perpetual imprisonment, thus reversing our present positions. I am not foolish enough to imagine you love me as I love you. If you were free, I’d never see you again. Whereas I visit you occasionally, to report what’s happening in the world and to lighten your loneliness.”
“You are too kind,” Merlin said with a wry smile.
“You know full well I will release you eventually,” Nimue said. “I must; it’s a requirement of the enchantment that holds you here.”
“How many centuries more?” he asked.
”A few. Nine – ten – eleven, perhaps. No more than eleven, surely. The world will need you by then.”
“The world will have me sooner, once I’ve found the formula to break the spell you’ve bound me with,” he said, glancing at the shelves where all the knowledge of the ages was contained.
“Never think you’ll learn the secret there, in books or scrolls, on tapes or on stone tablets,” Nimue said, laughing. “Shall I tell you what it is?”
“Will you tell me true?”
“Have I ever lied to you, Merlin?”
“Just once,” he said. “It was enough. Your single lie brought me here.”
“You must love me as I love you,” Nimue said. “That is the secret. Unfortunately, love is the one enchantment to which you have always been immune. Those mortal souls who live above us on the surface love so easily. Love makes their short lives bearable.” She sighed, smiling wistfully at him.
“I am willing to learn,” Merlin said.
“I know you are, and I am always glad to teach you,” Nimue responded, laughing softly. She slid her arms around his neck and let her fingers weave into his thick hair. “It has taken only a thousand years for you to begin to think seriously about me. Perhaps, in another thousand years, you will know why I keep you here.”
“Sweet enchantress,” Merlin whispered, embracing her, “I am yours to instruct.”
“I knew you would be,” Nimue said, and kissed him.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Epilogue